


Twisted

by Phantom_Ice



Series: Phantom's Fire and Ice [12]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: (I mean not really), (he still wanted to kill jack anyway), (so...) - Freeform, A very firm angry line, Basically he's still a bad person, Child Abuse, Choking, Face Slapping, Gen, Morally Gray Vlad Masters, Sad with a Happy Ending, Self-Esteem Issues, Verbal Abuse, but he draws the line at child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-16 16:12:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11832330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantom_Ice/pseuds/Phantom_Ice
Summary: He's not sure when the first time was. Honestly, Danny was too young to remember a time when it hadn't been happening. In fact, it took until middle school for him to realize that your parents hurting you wasn't normal and was, in reality, frowned down upon.





	Twisted

He's not sure when the first time was. Honestly, Danny was too young to remember a time when it hadn't been happening. In fact, it took until middle school for him to realize that your parents beating you up wasn't normal and was, in reality, frowned down upon.

It took even longer for him to realize he didn't deserve it.

Maybe he should have known earlier, after all, he had never seen them hit Jazz, but he had thought it was a girl boy thing, or maybe an intelligence thing. Jazz was practically a genius. No matter, he's almost happy it took him so long to find out. Life didn't exactly become any easier after these revelations, just the opposite. Now that he knew it was wrong, his mind was being damaged just as much as his body, now he could feel the malicious intent behind every blow and realize it's not to help him learn, it's just because they don't want to act the way they're supposed to. Now he knows the truth, so what? What difference did it make except to make him feel even worse, even more inconsequential? Even more like a freak.

And that was before he got his ghost half.

If he was a freak then, what was he now?

An anomaly of nature

A monstrosity.

He wanted to tell his parents, he did, but how would they react? Would they fix him like he wanted them to, or would they view it as the perfect opportunity to finally do their up-close studies of ghosts? Would they kill him? Whichever path they took, they would always look at him with mistrust from that point forward. They would never accept that he had once been fused with ectoplasm. They wouldn't only hurt him, they would detest him. No, telling them was not an option.

Danny sighed and rolled over in bed as he examined both of his pale forearms. On one was a blistery burn originating from the Fenton Bazooka. On the other lied a large pulsing purple handprint.

...:::*:::...

Danny took care of the ghost and arrived home at exactly ten o'clock pm. Just on time. He had to calm his breathing and quell his shaking as he gripped his home's door knob, though, because he knew that ‘just on time’ wasn't good enough.

"Daniel James Fenton," the disturbingly calm voice flowed through the air the moment the door closed behind him. He was a fourteen-year-old boy, wasn't it about time he at least grew taller than his mother? But no, she still towered over his small frame, his father backing her up. "Haven't we raised you better than to be late for your curfew?" she asked frigidly. He couldn't help the need to defend himself, even if he knew it was utterly pointless.

"But I'm not late, it's exac—"

SMACK

Danny shut up as the thin hand that impacted his cheek whipped his head to the side. He did nothing else. He was a powerful half ghost who fought various powered others of his kind with little fear, but when it came to his mother he found he would do nothing to protect or defend himself. How could he, when she looked at him with those angry purple-blue eyes that seemed to pin him down and cause everything inside him to freeze up in fear?

"What was that, Danny?" his mother asked with a dangerous undertone to her voice. He promptly gave up on any attempt to defend his actions.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again," he whispered instead as he stared down at their shoes, refusing to make eye contact.

"Young man, that's the third time this week you've said that." A booted foot tapped the floor twice, "... Well? Care to tell us why?"

Danny squeezed his eyes shut wishing more than anything he could teleport away, but at the same time was careful to keep the wish from getting processed by his ghostly core. He quickly gave a single shake of his head, knowing where it would lead.

"Excuse me?! How dare you!" Maddie grabbed his left ear and jerked it forward, causing Danny to stumble. "We do everything for you, despite how completely average and insignificant you are in every way, and you can't even follow a few rules? Worse, you have the audacity to withhold from us why those rules were broken?" She roughly pulled his ear from side to side as she spoke, and he bit his lip to keep from whimpering. "I'm not going to ask you again, you ungrateful brat, where have you been going?"

Danny opened his mouth, but before he could speak...

"... and don't you dare tell me you were with Sam or Tucker because I've checked with both their parents."

Danny closed his mouth again.

He stayed silent. His mom let go of his ear, grabbing his upper arm in a bruising grip instead and pulling him close

"Well?!"

Silence. She gave a final squeeze, causing him to flinch, and released him.

"Fine, have things your way. Jack, take Danny up to his room. Apparently, he needs an escort. Danny, I better not see you eating breakfast tomorrow." With that, she sauntered off in the direction of the kitchen, where the entrance to the lab was.

"Sure thing, Madds." Jack roughly snatched up Danny's wrists in an aching grasp, both of their thin circumferences in one of Jack's meaty hands, and pulled him up the stairs, Danny tripping over steps as he tried to keep up with the erratic motion. Once in the room, Jack let go of Danny's newly bruised wrists and instead grabbed the boy's neck. Danny froze as the fingers wrapped around his breathing tube and he offered no resistance as Jack backed them up until the back of Danny's head hit a wall. Then the man began to squeeze. Danny's eyes went wide as his hands flew up to try to pry off the strong fingers cutting off his air supply. His mouth opened as he tried to breathe through it, but the situation went unresolved. Seconds before Danny was sure he either had to risk going intangible or blacking out, his dad opened his mouth,

"Next time your mother asks you a question, answer it."

Then he let go and Danny collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air as it rushed back into his lungs.

"... and next time you're late, we will find out why." Then Jack was gone, and Danny was left with a shaking body and wet cheeks.

The door had been long closed by the time Danny regained enough breath to speak.

"I hate you." The rest of the night was punctuated by sobs.

...:::*:::...

Danny hadn't been aware that his parents even had any friends... then again, the fact that they hadn't spoken with this one for twenty years might have something to do with it.

Jazz sat next to him, uncharacteristically ecstatic as she rambled off facts and figures about billionaire Vlad Masters, apparently excited to meet him. Danny probably should have been equally as excited. It's not every day a random nobody like him meets someone as prominent, rich, and powerful as Vlad Masters, but all he felt was a nervous ball of energy in his stomach. He didn't want to meet anyone who thought spending time with his parents was enjoyable. He could only imagine what that person's personality would be like.

All too soon they were driving up to the billionaire's front door, and Danny felt his insides flip as they pulled up. His parents turned around in their seats to tell them something, and Danny wondered if anyone else saw that the man was standing in the darkest part of the shadow created by his castle.

"Now kids... and Jack," his mother started, "I know we told you about Vlad's accident in college, and I'm sure this goes without saying, but please try not to bring it, or anything related to it up. Yes, Jack, that includes ghosts,"

Jack closed his mouth.

"... well, at least during our introduction. Okay?"

Jazz nodded without much thought as she looked out the window admiring the huge castle.

Maddie turned her head to Danny, her soft smile not wavering and he nodded as well. Still, he couldn't help but flinch as her hand moved forward suddenly to grab her door handle.

They all stepped out of the RV, Jack grabbing the luggage, and in turn, Vlad Masters stepped out of the shadows. Danny had seen pictures of the man before- of course, who hadn't?- but it was different in real life. He was thin, but tall and imposing as well. His tied back silver hair gave him the look of someone completely put together in any situation as well as an aura of aged knowledge despite the fact that he couldn't have been older than Danny's own parents. His eyes were very very blue, and also very very cold. Well, they were, until the man caught sight of Danny's mother. After that happened the ice in his gaze seemed to melt in a sudden torrent, and Mr. Masters seemed warm and friendly so quickly Danny wondered if it had all been in his head from the start. Wow. One of the richest and most powerful men in the world had a crush on his mother... The way the man took her hand, though, gentle and coaxing as if she was too fragile for the real world, made Danny wonder if Mr. Masters really knew her at all. He looked at her like she was an angel when Danny had the bruises to prove she was anything but.

The day went on and Danny just wandered around the castle exploring, as Mr. Masters had given him permission to do. He would pass a housekeeper or other such employee every once in awhile, but Danny couldn't help but think there were way fewer than there should be to upkeep a huge castle like this one. Danny walked into a random room and placed his hand on the top of the old-fashioned dresser... spotless. Strange. However, Danny didn't give it too much thought after that- maybe Mr. Masters had the place completely cleaned for the reunion- and didn't do much of anything productive the entire day.

When Danny was awoken by his ghost sense in the middle of the night, all he could do was groan.

"Great, just what I need, a working vacation," he grumbled to himself as he transformed and flew out to find the source of the disturbance. Maybe it would just be a lost ghost that was only wandering around not planning to hurt anyone.

Not that Danny had ever met one of those.

It turned out that his hopes were half granted, as they were ghosts that had been lost, at least last time he saw them.

The ghost vultures were following his father, no doubt hoping to complete the mission they had introduced to Phantom back in Amity Park, and just like back then Danny felt an icy claw grip his heart. He had hoped to never run into these particular ghosts again. When he had first heard their mission he couldn't help but think maybe he could just... sit this one out. The very thought frightened him, but at the same time he couldn't help but imagine a world where he was free of at least one of his parents... In the end, he knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he was even distantly at fault for someone's death, and his father, well, his father was his father. To want him to be harmed, despite any negative feelings the title implied in reference to Jack, was disgusting, of course it was. Of course it was.

Nonetheless, faced with having to make the decision again... Danny couldn't be expected to pass every test thrown in front of him. The ghost boy's breathing speed up as he watched the ghost vultures swoop upwards and then dive, beaks pointed squarely at his father's back.

Danny felt a sudden pulse of pain as lashes he had been given on his back a few days previously flared up as he tried to make his decision. His father had done it. Danny remembered standing against the wall as the large man whipped the belt at him until his eyes teared up.

He could do the same, he could watch as these birds injured his father. It was fair, right?

There would be blood. How could there not be? How long would it take the man to die? Being pecked to death by birds sounded painful. Really painful. Did his father deserve that?

Had Danny deserved those lashings? He had gotten a low grade on an English assignment. The class had become that much harder ever since his writing had started to unexpectedly toggle between English and some strange ghost tongue. Danny hadn't deserved it.

All this ran through Danny's mind as he watched the birds get closer and closer.

They were mere inches away when Danny screamed and jumped in front of them.

Jack was his father.

The vultures were thrown off by the ghost boy suddenly blocking their path, but it was too late to stop as they rammed into him.

Danny's world erupted in pain as he felt three beaks tear into the ectoplasmic flesh of his stomach, green starting to leak out of him in copious amounts. He gasped and held a gloved hand over one of the wounds. The ghost vultures were still regaining their balance in the air after being thrown forward with Danny, and the boy used the small window of time to frantically fly over to his father, grabbing an arm and phasing the large man through the ground.

After Jack was out of the way, Danny turned around to face the now situated birds once again. He was feeling weak and dizzy from ectoplasm loss, and everything ached, but he would protect. He had to.

"Hey, remember me?" he smirked at the birds, doing the best to hide his pain even as he started to lose altitude. However, just as the birds looked like they were going to go in for the attack, their faces erupted in obviously frightened expressions, and they scattered away through the walls and floor.

Under more lucid circumstances Danny most certainly would have questioned the ease of scaring the birds, but he was too groggy to care, as soon after they were gone his feet touched the ground, followed by his knees. His arms were wrapped around his midsection trying to stop the flow of ectoplasm as the world tilted and he fell to his side. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a figure of white, blue, and red. 

...:::*:::...

Danny screamed as he shot upwards, sure that he had just been stabbed in the stomach and was losing blood. He was confused when he finally calmed down enough to realize he was under a blanket and to remove said blanket. Looking around he was perplexed to find himself back in his guest room at Master's castle. Had it all been a dream? Danny gently touched his stomach and grunted as the pain emerged. However, he wasn't covered in ectoplasm.

"What happened?" He thought to himself out loud.

"I was going to ask you the same question, young man,"

Danny's eyes darted to the door as he pressed himself back against the headrest, then he relaxed when he realized it was only Mr. Masters. He figured the man must have heard the struggling or something. He quickly cooked up an excuse about long car trips and weariness, and the man was gone.

Danny wanted to think more thoroughly about what could have possibly happened earlier that night, but a few seconds later found him already asleep. He had to regain the energy lost through his ectoplasm somehow.

Outside Danny's door, Vlad Masters wiped a glob of stray ectoplasm off his finger with the handkerchief in his breast pocket, his gaze a thousand miles away as he walked down the long hallway, planning how he would rework his plans after this unexpected development.

The next day found Danny sulking in a suit by the punch table as middle-aged men and women danced to New Age music and he tried not to look at the carefree jumping and spinning of his parents. They seemed so happy and no one who looked at them could deny that they were in love- regardless of the exasperated look his mom was sending his overenthusiastic dad. Danny didn't look because he didn't like to be reminded of how happy they were, of how perfect a family they made- just the two of them. Looking at them on the dance floor they were the last people anyone would think to accuse of any sort of abuse. The heavy bruise on the back of Danny's left thigh from being slammed backward into a table said otherwise. It made him angry, but also overwhelmingly sad.

He was thankful, then, when Mr. Masters asked him to retrieve some gift for his father from the man's lab. He vaguely wondered what Mr. Master's could have gotten his father since he hadn't had any contact with Jack for twenty years. As he walked downstairs he mused that it must be either a generic sort of present or an extremely specific one relating to their college years together. Danny hoped it was the latter, that way there was less chance of it being a belt.

He stopped worrying about presents when he spotted the picture frame.

He had gotten rid of the piece of a photo he had liberated from the ghost vultures nearly as soon as it had come into his possession. He didn't want to be reminded of the opportunity he had turned away. However, he did recognize how easily that discarded photograph would have fit in with this one of his mother and a teenager who was almost certainly Vlad Masters, both looking twenty years younger.

"No way."

Danny didn't have a lot of time to ponder the implications of this discovery before his ghost sense went off, and, knowing the dangers of not responding to these things immediately at this point, he transformed. He beat away the ectopuses (ectopi?) easily enough, even if their sudden appearance was a bit strange... No more strange than another ghost he had faced previously, Skulker he had called himself, suddenly showing up with an electric net, though. Which, lo and behold, is exactly what happened.

Nonetheless, Danny was pretty sure he could have taken Skulker as well if it weren't for the strange cube device that he suddenly found encasing him; or the electric shock that stripped away even his ghost form.

The strangest thing didn't happen, though, until Vlad Master's himself walked into the room. Although Danny had already sort of come to the conclusion of who was behind all this with the photograph, it was still pretty unexpected. Less unexpected, though, (and when did his life become so strange and unexpected that just some ectopi/uses showing up wasn't abnormal enough to make the top of this long list?) was when the billionaire revealed himself to be a half-ghost... just like Danny. Suddenly very few things seemed to matter. Somehow meeting another hybrid seemed even stranger than being one. Maybe it was the fact that while he had gotten used to ghosts and somewhat used to his own ghostliness, he had never even considered the possibility of there being someone else... someone else like him.

More than that, Danny couldn't even imagine living with these powers for twenty years. He had kinda started to believe that they would one day just fade away, or that he would burn out like a light bulb, or get killed by some other malevolent spirit, or even just one day go ghost and not be able to turn back. For the first time since the arrival of the powers, Danny suddenly realized he had never really believed they would be permanent. One way or another it just couldn't be possible to live in this state of half being for so long. Except here was proof that his subconscious expectations had been wrong. He didn't know if he was relieved or terrified.

As Vlad demonstrated his powers, demonstrated all that he could teach Danny, the young boy couldn't help but think that this man, who obviously hated his father, was incredibly lonely to want to take in Jack's son. When Danny considered living as a freak of nature for twenty years, he couldn't help but understand. When Danny thought of the fact that the idea of getting killed by a malevolent spirit one day had easily made his list of ways he was probably going to die, he couldn't help but think that Vlad's offer was everything he could have wanted. When Vlad revealed his price, Danny was sure it was too good to be true.

"... and all you'd have to do is renounce your idiot father."

Danny couldn't help it, he laughed. Little did Vlad know he had done that a long time ago. Although remembering the vulture ghosts, Danny knew Vlad's idea of 'renounce' was probably a bit more extreme than his. Stil, Danny had barely resisted the temptation twice now. Three was too much.

Vlad didn't know this, though, and he just stood there with a raised eyebrow and a scowl.

"You may laugh now, but we'll see how you feel once your fath–"

Danny couldn't let him actually say it out loud, that would make it to real and he might not be able to accept.

"Wait! Wait! I'm sorry, I wasn't, well, I wasn't laughing for the reasons you thought I was. I just thought your price was... well, I just. I'm really relieved,"

Vlad just stared at him. Danny had gotten the impression directly after meeting Vlad Masters that he was a person that it was difficult to unhinge, so this was probably not how the man expected this little meeting to go.

"Relieved?" He repeated incredulously.

"Yes. I accept. I renounce my father," the words tasted a bit bitter coming out of Danny's mouth, but at the same time, he knew he had never made a decision better for his health than this one.

Vlad regained his composure and prowled closer to the box.

"Well, I'm glad you see it my way," Vlad pressed a button on the side of the box and it folded away back into its original cube form. Danny could see that although he had been released, Vlad was not going to trust him just like that. In fact, the man seemed ready to block any attack coming from Danny's direction. However, if this man was only going to hit Danny in self-defense, then Danny was doubly certain that this was the right decision. After a few seconds, Vlad seemed to shake off his visible doubt, and the same smirk from earlier reappeared.

"Well, I believe it is time to act out the rest of my plan for tonight. I will take your fa– Jack Fenton out of the picture," he paused for the smallest of moments to observe Danny's reaction, and Danny pretended that he didn't understand what those words meant, "and take your mother as my own."

That's about when Danny remembered Vlad's obvious puppy crush (that was starting to seem like a good bit more than a puppy crush) on his mother and everything came screeching to a halt. Danny should have expected this, after all, everyone knows what they say about things that seem too good to be true.

"Woah. Wait. My mom? Really?"

"Yes, your mother," Vlad tensed again in preparation for any fight Danny might put up, not that Danny himself noticed.

"Why?" Danny couldn't help the crinkle in his nose as he asked. He knew his mother was generally attractive for someone of her age, and he knew that Vlad had known her in college, and he had seen evidence of Vlad's attraction to her. It was just, through Danny's eyes he could only see an ugly scowl settled in her features, and, even in her sweetest moments with Jack, see nothing but unattractive malice in her eyes. He knew no one else could see it, he knew all the reasons why someone might be attracted to his mother, but the idea that someone actually was... It was unexpected. He had just seen too much of her ugly side to imagine it.

"Why not?" Vlad seemed defensive as he said it, "why should she have to suffer through that buffoon when I could give her everything she could ever need!? She deserves better!"

Danny scoffed. What other response is there to a statement like that?

Outwardly, Vlad sneered, but there was confusion in his eyes. How could there not be, with him standing in front of a child that seems willing to rid himself of both his parents with little actual knowledge of what lies ahead? Jack he could understand, that the boy would want to be rid of the idiot that likely made whatever mistake changed this child into a half ghost is normal. His mother, however, to want to lose Maddie's comfort and both gentle and protective nature... To Vlad it was incomprehensible. Unless... perhaps he also blamed Maddie for what happened to him? There would have to have been some piece of solid evidence on that since it was so much more unlikely. Vlad studied the child, who was now crossing his arms defensively and refusing to make eye contact, intently for a moment before slowly asking the question.

"Why do you believe she would not deserve it?"

The boy's wide eyes shot in his direction for a moment, and then he looked away again with a shrug.

Or this could be a ploy.

The thought jumped into Vlad's head with a fierce burst of anger. This could be some sort of distraction or way to run down the clock. From how he had found the boy after briefly fighting those simple vulture ghosts, Vlad couldn't imagine Daniel having that much experience, but maybe enough to play a few tricks? Well, he would not be led on. Vlad gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes,

"I will not yield for shrugs. I do not know your motive for delaying my venture, but I will save your mother as well," he asserted.

Danny's hand started to shake. He was so close to being free. He knew this was it: the only chance he would ever get to be safe and accepted. No matter how else this night went he would never find anyone else who knew about his other half and accepted him all the more for it. Yet, like everything else good in his life, it was being taken away by his parents. A small hand shaped bruise on his shoulder twinged. His mother banging him against the wall by his shoulder and head, over and over and over again until tears had started to form and he was too disoriented to pull away even after she had let go. Why did they want to take away everything that had the potential to make him happy?

"She is too divine and sophisticated for such a coarse buffoon. Too gentle to have to stand his unrestrained plebeian ways. I–"

"They beat me!" The sudden shout was as much a surprise to Danny as it was to Vlad. He blinked his wide open eyes and quickly looked away from the older ghost. His feet shuffled nervously as he tried to find a way to make what he had just said go away. Apparently, though, he wasn't done. "She beats me," the whisper just burst out and he immediately lifted a hand to cover his traitorous mouth.

Vlad wanted to deny it. He wanted to get angry and accuse the child of attempting to manipulate a master of the craft. Assure him that manipulations of sentiment will certainly not work on Vladimir Masters. Except Vlad is a people person. He can read them as easily as he can read books, and suddenly he noticed quite a few things about the youngest Fenton child that he had refused to acknowledge or had brushed off earlier.

Slumped posture, hands constantly in his pocket, quiet voice that sometimes tilts up at the end as if he was asking a question instead of making a statement. Diagnosis: not worrisome. Typical teenage behavior. Shyness is a dreadfully common condition.

Dark bags under eyes, eyes that shift quickly whenever they register movement, moves almost gently as if to make little noise and put little pressure on his body. Diagnosis: Halfa. He's a ghost that fights other ghosts. Of course he stays up at night, of course he has battle reflexes, of course he moves quietly and seeks to keep from aggravating injuries.

Sometimes flinches when people get too close, doesn't begin direct communication with his parents, lack of eye contact with them, lack of eye contact with anybody. Diagnosis: circumstantial? Except the circumstances have already been observed.

Each group alone seems inconsequential. Together they paint a darker picture.

Yet, what comes out of Vlad's mouth?

"Impossible."

"Ya, because you know her so well," Danny snaps, then immediately looks down at his beat up sneakers... and rubs the area that connects his neck and left shoulder. Why there?

Vlad steps forward once, then twice. The boy is still looking down, but he sees Vlad's boots stop directly in front of him. He looks up at Vlad for a moment, then squeezes closed his eyes and takes a deep breath.

Vlad pulls the boy’s collar out a bit. The suit is too big for him. The button-up shirt easily slips almost to the end of his shoulder. There it sits, simple and obvious. A bruise. A small feminine hand shape painted into the boy's skin in tones of violet, yellow, and green. He studies it for just a moment and then lets go.

"I've never told anyone before." Danny didn't know why he let Vlad push his collar back. Why he let him see evidence he had been hiding his whole life. Why he opened his mouth and volunteered more information. Why he wasn't telling the man to forget everything he's seen and heard.

"They know you are..."

Danny shakes his head.

"I wish. Then at least there would be a reason? Right? I'm just a ghost, I don't feel pain, I'm not really their son. At least then I could tell myself they don't really mean it, that they don't know. But they don't, she doesn't, do it because I'm part ghost. They do it because I was born. I don't remember a time when it wasn't happening. I... well, it took me longer than I'm proud of to realize it wasn't normal. Even longer to hate them for it," Danny couldn't look at the other ghost as he said it. Instead, he focused on the wall to his right and recited the words as if talking to himself. Except there was one point he had to make. He looked up at the man, "I can't, won't, go with you if she does." He knew he was an idiot to think that Vlad would choose him over a woman he's obviously been pining over for twenty years. It was stupid. He wasn't exactly anything worth having.

Vlad nods once, professionally if it weren't for the shaky bobble of his Adam's apple.

"I- I won't be a problem," Danny added, making a quick decision, "whatever your plans are for them I won't even try to stop you. I'll leave, go live in the Ghost Zone or something. Just... could you maybe not hurt Jazz? She really is nothing like d— Jack Fenton. If anything she's like mom—"

It's inexplicable, Vlad Masters is not a sympathetic person. He does not save stray cats and listen to sob stories. Yet, there is a cold type of stirring in his chest and his hand seems to have formed a fist with no prompting from his head.

"She knows?" he interrupts, wondering at how this small boy could be advocating for someone who he associates with being like his mother.

"What? Oh! No. I mean, I don't think she does. I never really thought about it, I guess. Jazz likes people to know she knows things, though, so if she did know she would probably have rubbed it in my face or something," Danny shrugged.

Vlad wondered at how far the boy's perception of reality had been skewed by constant belittling. Did he just think his sister would be indifferent because he had lived with it so long and didn't realize a more common approach would be to call the authorities, or was Jasmine, in reality, cruel and uncaring?

That was a problem for another time.

Women were a dime a dozen- even if he had yet to meet one that he could trust like he had trusted Maddie-, half ghosts were two in every seven billion.

Vlad transformed back to his human state, and Daniel looked up at him in question.

"My plans will have to be adjusted for variables. This one is no longer suitable," he answered as his only way of explanation for his action. "You have explored my castle all day. Does any particular room hold your interest?"

"Room?" Danny repeated, furrowing his brow. Well, the theater was pretty cool...

"Yes, bedroom, Daniel, don't be slow," Vlad rolled his eyes and headed towards the stairs that led out of the lab, expecting the young boy to follow.

Danny's eyes widened.

"Gaining custody of you should not be difficult for a man of my status, regardless of the state of your parents. There is very little that a well-placed bribe can't do. However..."

Danny's listening trailed off as he began to comprehend what was happening and he chased Vlad up the stairs. They were standing in a sitting room when his head finally stopped spinning.

"Vlad, Mr. Masters," he interrupted the older halfa's continued speech, "I don't... I mean I can't... I mean..." Danny was mortified to realize he was holding back tears, "Thank You."

Vlad shrugged. He would have seemed indifferent to the statement if it weren't for the smallest upward tilt of his lips and maybe a slight softness of his eyes.

"Go choose a room, Daniel. I will deal with technicalities."

Danny nodded and smiled.

Vlad only answered that smile with his own once the boy's back was turned. Now, about those elder Fentons...


End file.
